Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1887-1890, 1887-07-02
MINING PROGRESS.
The Great Mineral Belt on the South
Fork of the Columbia.

dC AVA ui1a SoAASopolACLt o1 bAS
Miner says: Little was known Of
the immense galena, carbonate and sill
yer deposits of the South Fork country in
the Cnur d'Alenes until the fall OF 1885"
The correspondent adds: "For the time
being | will leave Wardner and travel
with the reader up the South Fork river
and view the mineral wealth on both sides
of the old Mullan road. Four miles above
Kellogg is the Goldsmith mine, the prop
erty of the Victor company of Louisville,
Ky. which like their mines on the north
side and their Horsfeld smelter at Kellogg
are at a standstill. Two miles above is the
camp of Evolution, named after A. }.
Prichard's lode. Mr.. Prichard ownes a
number of valuable prospects here, one OF
which he values at a cool 100000. Two
mics further and the town OF Osbourne is
reached. Here as all along the river are
find ranches on the river bottom. At this
place the country and valley is quite wide.
Here the wagon road to Murray crosses
the river and climbs a two-mile pass over
the divide to Beaver creek. The South
Fork railroad will be completed to this
point by another month, the track being
10Y about ready for the rails. The sur
rounding mountains are covered with pros
poets, only one-the Killbuck-being de-
veloped to that extent wherein it may be
classed as a mine. Seven miles further
up stream is the town of Wallace, at a
point where Canyon, Nine Mile and Placer
creeks empty into the river.
Many good prospects are under process
e lor1 ar Mo Ms1o or I,~-np
creek. There is the justly celebrated
Tiger mine which for richness and extent
is hardly equaled anywhere, also the Poor
man and others lately secured by that
prince of miners, Patsey Clark of Butte.
His claims are said to be equally as good
as the Tiger. To mention the other mines
of Canyon creek would require too much
valuable space. The town of Burke has
been laid out here and is rapidly acquiring
a good population. Placer creek, coming
in fromthe other side of the river is lined on
each side with mineral locations, the same
belt Gil which IS located the Sullivan and
Bunker Hill being situated up this creek.
Eight miles farther up the river and we
arrive at the town of Mullan, the home of
the Gold Hunter, owned by Dennis Ryan
and associates Of St. Paul. The Evening
and the Morning, the Central and many
other lodes too numerous to mention.
Three creeks pour their waters into the
river at this point-Hunter, Mill and
Boulder creeks. Quite a town has been
built up here in the past few months,
which no doubt in the near future will be
the metropolis of the upper South Fork.
From here up to the top of the divide
quite a number of prospects are located,
many Of which are promising. A railroad
is in contemplation from Thompson Falls
up Prospect creek and across the divide
to Canyon creek and the South Fork
MINING Notes.
Missoula is opening up some high grade
properties.
The Great Falls townsite company has a
very fine collection of Montana ores.
In Butte millions of tons of low grade
ore can be secured and concentrated at a
profit.
S1ate-Iike material, which serves as fuel
has been found in Warm Spring valley,
near Elsinore, California.
Mr.. Burghardt of Neihart has secured a
| bond on the mine in the Barker district, of
which mention was made recently.
Pat Hughes of this city will shortly visit
the Neihart district. 1t was he who dis
| covered the Barker region and named it.
The completion of the Northern Pacific
from Drummond to Philipsburg will open
up a rich country, which will yield thous,
ands of tons of high grade ore.
The general business of the camp for
the past week has been about as usual, all
| the mines, mills and smelters being in a
| state of active operation without special
features.
The most important news of the week
connected with great mining industry Of
Butte is an investigation by Mr.. Hubbard
in the interests of Colorado capitalists rel
alive to the project of starting a big smelt-
ing enterprise there.
A letter from Red Bluff in the Butte
Miner says: We have got plenty of good
ores that would pay to move to Butte and
pay us a very handsome profit if we can
only ship them by rail. We prefer to
reach Butte because Butte has facilities to
handle all kinds of ores, and there is also
active competition. Our ores are mostly
gold, and would improve and enrich your
silver bars.